I have been in the field of training, leadership, and organizational development for over 20 years. Through all these years, I have heard a one message (and complaint) from practitioners, consultants, authors and gurus: for cultural change to succeed, top leadership must support it. It’s amazing. This message is so consistent. And there is so much evidence to prove it!

Yet the issue persists as a key barrier to successful culture change.

Each year we move forward into a wonderful space of creation for the upcoming year. We also have an opportunity to look back at the past year, and then to look forward, to make adjustments to improve the quality of service for our customers, vendors, employees, and community.

Each of us can become a change agent to make a difference. Not only can one person create dramatic change, but one action can. Think about just one thing that would surprise and delight your customers (internal or external customer). Just one thing.

We regularly work with CEOs and senior leaders to help them build uplifting service cultures and improve service performance. Most leaders understand their roles and are eager to provide direction and support to transform their culture.

However, given their intensive schedules and responsibilities, it’s unreasonable to expect high-level leaders to know the details of all service improvement and culture-building initiatives. While they meet to review initiatives periodically, the Ultimate Question 1.0 can significantly leverage their time and commitment every day.

Ultimate Question 1.0: What is your team’s best idea to improve service today?

Going away on holiday is an ideal time to experience service from traditional service providers: airlines, hotels, restaurants and retail operators. As a member of the UP! Your Service team, I recently traveled overseas on vacation, and was eager to experience the the service cultures and individual service providers I encountered. I thought it would be fun “field work” (much to the dismay of my family) and an opportunity to get fresh insights on service in new places.

What came of my experience, however, was much different than a collection of evaluations about service and service providers.

The passion and enthusiasm from employees with the ‘right attitude’ is not a ‘given’ with a life-time guarantee. How do you retain these employees and sustain their passion for your company’s values and objectives?

Recruitment advertisements often emphasize the skills and experience required to apply for a job. This is understandable, but is also a mistake. Organizations should place more emphasis on recruiting the right attitudes during the hiring process. When you want to build an uplifting service culture, attitudes can be even more important than skills.

American Express Global Customer Service Barometer says that 92% of people are most influenced by a company’s reputation or brand, and 88% say that they are most influenced by the recommendations of family and friends.

So, the question begs asking… how can “word of mouth” be motivated, encouraged or leveraged? How can you create “buzz” even if you are a single employee, or manager of a business? Does it take a huge budget? An ad agency? Nope. Sit down, we are going to offer you some staggering statistics.

The most listened-to radio station in the world is WIIFM, which stands for “What’s in it for me?” Some people throw this question like a trump card: answer with enough for me and you win my cooperation, but if I find your answer insufficient I may ignore you and your request completely.

I’m tired of this question being used so often and with such depressing power. Here’s why…

The issue is not whether excellent customer service is good marketing, or if marketing should be approached as a form of service. The more important question is whether we are marketing the right message about “service”.

A common language enables effective coordination of action.
Software developers use common terms, like bug reports and freezing code. When new software comes out, they say the old one has reached the “end of life”.
Insurance agents also share a common language. They use terms like persistency, premiums, waivers and exclusions. When their customer reaches end of